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• Closing Oil & Gas Prices for Wednesday
  Benchmark U.S. crude oil for February delivery...

  Benchmark U.S. crude oil for February delivery fell $1.46 to $74.11 per barrel Wednesday. Brent crude for February delivery fell $1.42 to $79.65 per barrel.

  
  

  Wholesale gasoline for January delivery fell 1 cent to $2.15 a gallon. January heating oil fell 5 cents to $2.62 a gallon. January natural gas rose 7 cents to $2.62 per 1,000 cubic feet.

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• Williams Buys Gulf Coast Natgas Storage for $1.95B
  Williams has reached an agreement to acquire a portfolio of natural gas storage assets...

  Williams has reached an agreement to acquire a portfolio of natural gas storage assets from an affiliate of Hartree Partners LP for $1.95 billion, the company said Dec. 27.

  
  

  The transaction includes six underground natural gas storage facilities in Louisiana and Mississippi with a total capacity of 115 Bcf, as well as 230 miles of gas transmission pipeline and 30 pipeline interconnects to attractive markets, including LNG markets, and connections to Transco, the nation’s largest natural gas transmission pipeline.

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• Egypt Floats Peace Proposal
  Top Israeli officials are reviewing...

  Top Israeli officials are reviewing a draft peace proposal crafted by neighboring Egypt to end fighting in the Gaza Strip, focusing on initial steps including renewed hostage and prisoner swaps, according to reports yesterday. The role of Hamas in a postwar governing structure—a nonstarter for Israel, say experts—remains a key hurdle. Hamas and partner militant group Islamic Jihad were said to have quickly dismissed Egypt's plan.

  
  

  Discussions come as the Israeli military said it had expanded operations into urban refugee centers in central Gaza, where Hamas leaders claim at least 70 people were killed in an airstrike at the al-Maghazi camp. Israel said it was reviewing the incident.

  
  

  Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited troops in northern Gaza Sunday, reiterating the war may continue for months. He has faced increasing pressure to focus on the safe return of about 130 hostages still held by Hamas—family members booed Netanyahu during a Monday speech to the country's legislature.

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• ☕️ What Else is Brewing Wednesday
  What’s a virtual world without anyone in it?...

  What’s a virtual world without anyone in it? As of last year, only 200,000 people were active in Horizon Worlds, Meta’s VR world, and Meta has yet to provide an update on that number. And for the ones who are there…it’s not that exciting. Quest 3, the latest iteration of Meta’s VR headset, debuted in October. By many accounts, it was an improvement on the Quest 2. But the problem that’s plagued the metaverse remained: What do you do once you’re in it? Some who entered the virtual world just couldn’t escape the feeling that it was more boring than the real one.

  
  

  Companies shifted away from the metaverse as the focus on artificial intelligence intensified. While Zuckerberg remained bullish on the metaverse, he paid more attention to AI at Meta Connect 2023, Meta’s annual conference. And, as recently as this month, the company pushed new AI developments, including “Imagine with Meta AI,” an image-generating tool, alongside updates to its AI assistant. Meanwhile, Meta temporarily listed a battery strap for the Quest 3 as “out of stock” last month because the product was so glitchy. The company that renamed itself after the metaverse may end up pivoting to AI instead.

  
  

  On the money. Politicians and advocacy groups warned that Musk’s takeover could lead to a rise in hate speech and disinformation on Twitter/X—and it did. Musk has implemented some platform restrictions on data gathering that have stifled dozens of studies trying to dig deeper into these trends, according to Reuters, but the EU is investigating X under its new tech rules.

  
  

  Unforeseen: We weren’t creative enough to predict that this year Musk would challenge Mark Zuckerberg to a cage match in “ancient Rome”—and then not follow through. Or that he would tell some of his biggest advertisers to “go f***” themselves for pausing their spending after he endorsed an antisemitic conspiracy.

  
  

  Looking to next year…maybe in between product meetings about X’s new banking feature, Musk will try to plug his losses with the help of his budding AI company, X.ai, which is seeking $1 billion in funding. But he also said a few months ago that X “may fail, as so many have predicted.”—ML

  
  
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• ConocoPhillips Gains Financial Approval for Alaska Project
  ConocoPhillips has been granted financial approval for its Willow oil and gas drilling project in Alaska,...
  ConocoPhillips has been granted financial approval for its Willow oil and gas drilling project in Alaska, with a budget of $8 billion. Following the approval, the company has initiated winter construction. Residents of Alaska are now experiencing the positive outcomes of responsible energy development.
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